On the second day of a recent four-day “Israel Innovation Summit,” sponsored by Beit Issie Shapiro, an Israeli non-profit that provides innovative services for children with special needs, we visited the Hatzor Air Force base, near Gedera, home of the 101 Squadron, which essentially represents the first iteration of the Israeli Air Force. The 101 shares the base with an additional air group; both contain 30 F-16 fighter jets, along with pilots and support personnel. We were greeted by “Mickey,” the squad’s 40-year-old commander, who told us that his task is no less than to assure that this, “the third re-birth of the Jewish state,” is not destroyed. “It will not happen on my watch,” he intoned solemnly. His talk was punctuated, and perhaps affirmed, every few minutes, by the earth-shaking, ear-splitting, feel and sound of F-16s roaring and soaring off the nearby runway into the cloudless blue sky.

Describing some of the training routines, the commander told of a visiting squad of American pilots. When U.S. pilots are doing maneuvers and are told to turn left, he said, they might take 200 miles to accomplish the task. “If our pilots do that, however,” he smiled, “they might find themselves three countries away.” He was pressed by members of our group to describe the range of his planes, and was specifically asked if they can reach Iran. “I’ll give you the “p.c.” answer,” he replied. “Our missions can last as long as necessary.”

On the second day of a recent four-day “Israel Innovation Summit,” sponsored by Beit Issie Shapiro, an Israeli non-profit that provides innovative services for children with special needs, we visited the Hatzor Air Force base, near Gedera, home of the 101 Squadron, which essentially represents the first iteration of the Israeli Air Force. The 101 shares the base with an additional air group; both contain 30 F-16 fighter jets, along with pilots and support personnel. We were greeted by “Mickey,” the squad’s 40-year-old commander, who told us that his task is no less than to assure that this, “the third re-birth of the Jewish state,” is not destroyed. “It will not happen on my watch,” he intoned solemnly. His talk was punctuated, and perhaps affirmed, every few minutes, by the earth-shaking, ear-splitting, feel and sound of F-16s roaring and soaring off the nearby runway into the cloudless blue sky.

Describing some of the training routines, the commander told of a visiting squad of American pilots. When U.S. pilots are doing maneuvers and are told to turn left, he said, they might take 200 miles to accomplish the task. “If our pilots do that, however,” he smiled, “they might find themselves three countries away.” He was pressed by members of our group to describe the range of his planes, and was specifically asked if they can reach Iran. “I’ll give you the “p.c.” answer,” he replied. “Our missions can last as long as necessary.”